Need suggestions for fast ebike

T

taco799

New Member
My commute is 24 miles each way from Downtown San Diego to Solana Beach. I currently take the train but, I need to lose some weight and want to start biking to work. I am in decent shape overall, I am a powerlifter but, I've given that up and want to slim down by 20 or so pounds and my stamina certainly needs work. Given how far the commute is each way a non-electric bike wouldn't work for me. The train takes about 45 min right now. I would like to be able to do the same commute in 1 hour on a bike, probably not right away but, that is my goal.

Here are my requirements
*Speed at least 28mph (I am willing to get a bike that does less and de-restrict it if someone has a suggestion)
*Range lets say 40 Miles on max boost
*Road bike geometry w/ drop bars
*Let's pretend money is no object (it obviously is but I would rather spend more and get a better quality bike than cheap out and have it break on me halfway to Solana Beach)
*Low maintenance (Ideally a carbon belt drive)as I don't have much bike fixing experience but, this is the least important here).
 
S604 Shred. Blows the doors off anything out there at that price point.
 
Deleted Member 4210 said:
S604 Shred. Blows the doors off anything out there at that price point.
Click to expand...
First that's not a drop bar road bike. 2nd, with a heavier rider (I'm assuming with the powerlifter comment, sorry 🤣), San Diego's hills, and the 'max assist' OP is specifying, there is no way the Shred will make that 40 mile round trip. Finally, that's not a 'money is no object' ebike....not by a longshot.
 
taco799 said:
My commute is 24 miles each way from Downtown San Diego to Solana Beach. I currently take the train but, I need to lose some weight and want to start biking to work. I am in decent shape overall, I am a powerlifter but, I've given that up and want to slim down by 20 or so pounds and my stamina certainly needs work. Given how far the commute is each way a non-electric bike wouldn't work for me. The train takes about 45 min right now. I would like to be able to do the same commute in 1 hour on a bike, probably not right away but, that is my goal.

Here are my requirements
*Speed at least 28mph (I am willing to get a bike that does less and de-restrict it if someone has a suggestion)
*Range lets say 40 Miles on max boost
*Road bike geometry w/ drop bars
*Let's pretend money is no object (it obviously is but I would rather spend more and get a better quality bike than cheap out and have it break on me halfway to Solana Beach)
*Low maintenance (Ideally a carbon belt drive)as I don't have much bike fixing experience but, this is the least important here).
Click to expand...

Hi Taco. I live in your neck of the woods. I bought a BH Atom X e-mountain bike. My concern was comfort for a daily 25 mile rides. Big tires for a soft ride and an upright riding position allow me to go much longer in comfort.

What's your intended route? 101, then cut inland somewhere before UTC (when headed from Solana to downtown)? That's a hilly ride. My BH has a 700 watt battery....just about as big as they come. With full assist for a 200lb rider like me, I think I might just make it one way with a full battery. Yes, they do burn out that quick. And if you delimit and stay at faster than 20mph speeds, you might not be able to make it one way. That's me speaking from a nobby tire mountain bike perspective. I'm ignorant as to how much more you can squeeze out of a road bike.

So look for the biggest battery you can find. Until you condition and can get the assist level down, you'll probably want an extra charger for the office. With full assist on a speed pedelec, you'll probably be able to make it in an hour. Good luck!
 
how does the Trek Domane+ appeal to you?
1570166949863.png
 
You will have difficulty meeting all your requirements.

For example, drop bar bikes are very limited. Raleigh has dropped the Tamland; Trek has dropped the Crossrip + and the Domane + has the old Bosch battery and 500 wh battery and the new model for 2020 has not been introduced.

The new road models focus on assiting roadies get a work out without appearing to be an e bike. They are pricey with limited motors (e.g. Orbea Gain, 20 mph and probably the new Domane) and small 350 batteries (though they provide for a second battery). Also they are pricey and do target low weight, see the Specialized Creo.

All in all have been looking to move to a drop bar, but the pickings are slim and not targeted at the commuter. Sorry can't be of more help.

Edit: For a long commute, this is an e bike meant for the long ride. https://wattwagons.com/products/ultimate_commuter_pro
 
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Most of the serious commuters use don't use drop bars. They use flat bars as they prefer to keep their heads and eyes up so that they can keep an eye on traffic around them. As mentioned above, you'll probably have a hard time finding a drop bar bike that meets all your requirements.

40 miles on Turbo (or max boost) is a tough requirement for any bike. I would not expect that out of any single battery bike.

Since you said money is no object, I suggest you take a look at a dual battery Riese & Muller (R&M) such as the Supercharger or Superdelite. Either bike should come very close to making your 48 mile round trip on Turbo without having to charge batteries at work.

Most of the R&M bikes give you 3 choices on drive trains, 1 chain drive and 2 belt drives. I like the belt drives, but there is nothing wrong with a chain.

You have a great R&M dealer there in San Diego. Check out Fly RIdes San DIego in La Jolla. I live on the east coast, but I purchased my R&M from Max at Fly RIdes. I could not be any happier with all aspects of my purchase from this dealer.
 
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I’ll check in here too. Read up on the Bulls Grinder EVO, a Speed pedale39511c with the Bosch motor, drop bars, 40c tires and a front suspension. I love mine, and you get a surprising amount of assist in Tour mode (the #2 level out of 4).
 
I was also looking for a drop bar ebike. I come from a roadie background and the riding position seems much more natural. Also, my arthritic thumbs don't enjoy the thumb shifters. I narrowed it down to the Trek CrossRip+ and the Yamaha Wabash. I ended up purchasing the Wabash for under $3K and absolutely love it. I've never found the need for full boost (level 4) as level 3 boost will easily get me up any hill. The 700/33 tires are narrow enough to be efficient on the road but still wide enough to handle dirt/gravel roads. One of my favorite routes is 30 miles over gently rolling terrain and I can easily keep a 15mph+ average and consume only 30% of the battery. Doing your entire ride in Turbo? You'll get there in a hurry but I don't know how much exercise you'll be getting. If I put my Wabash Turbo in mode I'm flying but hardly working.

39513
 
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if you can relax the requirement for drop bars, that opens your world up. I dont believe there is a bike that exists that has all those characteristics listed.
 
I dont doubt that the Wabash is good, and I own a Giant Road-E too, but the Wabash is 20mph limited (unless you delimit it which voids the warranty) and the Road-E isn't low maint. imo.

jim6b's suggestion is what I was thinking of. not sure how tried and true it is at this point.

@pushkar is the one behind that bike.
 
Our commutes have a lot of overlap. I ride from south Carlsbad to UCSD, 18 miles each way.

I think the Wattwagon would be closest to your specs and @pushkar told me that he'd be willing to do a drop bar conversion. I was thinking about getting one myself.

Currently I ride a derestricted Haibike with a 500Wh battery and it takes me about 50 minutes, when I go all out. I rarely use the highest setting, though, because I don't think the battery would last all the way. Plus, you'll be able to push maximum speed along the 101, but as soon as you get into city traffic, your average will drop significantly. And going to downtown you will have plenty of that. So don't focus so much on top speed but more on acceleration and how good of an average you'll be able to hold. Just for reference, my average speed for the last 10.000 miles of commuting was just under 19mph. I doubt much more than that is realistic unless you completely disregard all stop signs, lights and traffic.
 
@drewberz and @batmick1 Thanks for the referrals.

@taco799 , happy to connect with you. just a quick summary - the Ultimate Commuter Pro can do nearly 45/46 miles averaging 28mph (during Ravi's run), on a single charge of 880Wh.

I can do a drop bar - I have worked with profile design. If you have a preference for another vendor, please let me know. I can update the geometry to make it more roadbike focussed / or even specific to what you want it to be.

There are also a couple of really cool things in testing - we can discuss when we connect.

I will DM you.
 
taco799 said:
My commute is 24 miles each way from Downtown San Diego to Solana Beach. I currently take the train but, I need to lose some weight and want to start biking to work. I am in decent shape overall, I am a powerlifter but, I've given that up and want to slim down by 20 or so pounds and my stamina certainly needs work. Given how far the commute is each way a non-electric bike wouldn't work for me. The train takes about 45 min right now. I would like to be able to do the same commute in 1 hour on a bike, probably not right away but, that is my goal.

Here are my requirements
*Speed at least 28mph (I am willing to get a bike that does less and de-restrict it if someone has a suggestion)
*Range lets say 40 Miles on max boost
*Road bike geometry w/ drop bars
*Let's pretend money is no object (it obviously is but I would rather spend more and get a better quality bike than cheap out and have it break on me halfway to Solana Beach)
*Low maintenance (Ideally a carbon belt drive)as I don't have much bike fixing experience but, this is the least important here).
Click to expand...
Lunacycle, join the rest of the nutters riding bikes that perform beyond their ability to safely stop.
 
Over50 said:
Nevertheless you chose to ignore the OPs parameters to try to steer the OP to a bike you sell ...
Click to expand...

It's crazy when a vendor comes on here to assumedly promote their business, then tells a good intentioned person 'you don't know squat' and to 'buzz off'.

Talking to another person like that on THIS forum is disappointing. I won't try to discern his motives, because he's right, I'm no ebike expert.
 
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